Category Archives: work

Marvelous Marvin- Atlanta

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Marvelous Marvin has Arrived

Marvelous Marvin arrived on my doorstep earlier than expected. He actually made it in time to go to Atlanta, GA with me. He must have galloped across Alaska’s Tundra to make it to the post office in time.Moose scrambles up the bankHis ETA was Friday 1/10 but on Tuesday 1/7 my doorbell rang and there he was. He didn’t even have time to say hello to cousin Merle before I had him packed away for Atlanta.

Marvin at the Marriott

We were staying at the Marriott Marquis. What a huge hotel! But even with 20+ floors not all of the attendees could be accommodated . We had folks in the OMNI Hotel at the CNN Center, the Sheraton, The Hyatt Regency and The Westin Peachtree Plaza. As you can see this was a very big deal. Our closing dinner and Party was so huge it had to be held in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium!

The Atmosphere was Electric

This was my 5th Redferno (that’s the name of the annual convention) and Marvin’s first. The energy was vibrating like it was about to explode. So many people that all embraced the same corporate culture here in one place, together, to celebrate our success and get a peek at the future. Music blared from every meeting room. The joint (as they say)was rockin’ . People were cheering. Its like being dropped into the middle of an Amway convention. It can be quite a culture shock. It was for me the first time I came. I was interested to see how my team mates would feel about a moose in their midst.

Marvin at Thrive

I chose to introduce Marvin at a smaller venue. Our Boston Market dinner was Wednesday evening at a restaurant called Thrive. I was more comfortable introducing Marvin to just my team before any of the other teams found out about my stowaway. Marvin immediately charmed everyone. Of course Marvin couldn’t go to the meetings but he would be able to join us again for the really big send off party on Friday.

Resolutions Anyone?

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Resolutions or no?

Are you big on making New Years Resolutions or do you just say no? Personally I don’t think I pay much attention to an annual To Do List that I’m probably going to blow off in the first 2 weeks anyway.  Doesn’t everyone plan to lose weight? How many times is that going to be on your list? But I do think taking stock of your life and where its going is a good idea. Seems to me quarterly would be better than annually but maybe I just need to do it more often to stay on track.  Here’s a few of the things I am working on for 2020. I’m not sure of they are resolutions , goals or just wishful thinking.

Work Resolutions

Work is a big part of my life so I’m starting there. Work has been pretty scary in 2019 so I am anxious to take more control. There have been a lot of changes and more to come in the near future. Like I said, scary. Will my boss be the same? Will I need to change roles or apply for another position? Will I end up working for someone I don’t respect or trust? With all the reorganization anything is possible. So to combat my feelings about all this upheaval I  want to be better organized. I want to be pro-active. If I am aware of a problem then I want to take steps to correct it. I want to develop a training program, not just wing it. I want to standardize procedure so everyone knows what to do. I want to lead a strong and united team. 

Health Resolutions

My hip replacement was a 100% success. My doctor has given me 2 thumbs up but now I need to worry about my knee.  X-rays show that the pain I have going up and down stairs is real, not a figment of my imagination. It shows degeneration to the point of bone on bone.  You guessed it, I need a complete knee replacement. Pretty soon I’ll be the bionic woman. My doctor says we may be able to delay the surgery with cortisone shots and exercise. He suggested PT again. But tops on his list before he’ll do the surgery is weight loss. I’m trying. I’ve been working diligently on that since July but it’s 2 lbs off 1.5 lbs back on. Not much progress. I guess I’ll have to make more of an effort in 2020.

Fun & Hobby Resolutions

I haven’t been a very fun person in 2019. I got quite lazy during my hip recovery. I put travel on the back burner and did absolutely no weekend adventures. As a result I didn’t take many pictures and didn’t have much to say here. So aroundustyroads suffered and so did my companion blogs, dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com and dustyroadsphotos.com . I will try to make a better effort in 2020. More adventures= more posts. 

Friends  & Family Resolutions

As any member of my family and many of my friends will tell you, I’m not a warm fuzzy sort. I forget birthdays and anniversaries. I didn’t send my Christmas cards last year or this year. I don’t go visit anyone. I’m always busy, busy , busy. But I hope they know that I love them all and worry behind the scenes about the trials they face. I should show them more often that I do care what’s going on in their life and if I can help at all I want to.  There have been so many losses both in my family and in my friend’s that we …I….need to cherish those that are still with with us. Life is too short not to. 

So What about you?

So now that I’ve shared my thoughts, fears and aspirations for 2020 what about you? Will you take time for any self reflection?

What a Crazy World!

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What a Crazy World We Live in!

It’s crazy out there! I mean it. Life just takes over and runs away with you. You have no control. Or maybe it’s just me. I go to work each day expecting to put in my 8 hours and come home. They hired 10 more people so I should be able to finish on time but it just isn’t working out that way. No matter how hard I try I can’t get out by 5 pm. I promised my boss on Friday that I would leave on time. OOPS Didn’t happen.  I have 7 commission  statements to send out that are a week overdue So I went in to the office today. I figured it would be quiet on a Sunday but one of my key applications was down so I couldn’t send anything out. 

Rocky my catPosts are coming

I have posts drafted but by the time I get home my brain has turned to mush. I feed Rocky (my cat), fix dinner and fall asleep. Not much of a life to talk about. But I was planning to share highlights from my Volcano National Park tour while I was on the Big Island. Looks like Kilauea is making my visit pale by comparison. When I was there the lava lake had just started to rise and we could see the tops of the lava fountains. From the lake surface to the rim of the crater it was 120 ft. so you can imagine how high the fountains were going if we could see the tops. Now that more than a dozen fissures have opened up in the rift zone the level from the lava lake is sinking.

A Big Explosion

Just to prove how crazy I am the scientists that monitor Kilauea are predicting a big explosion. Maybe a 1 in a century blow up. Guess who wants to be there? Yup me. If I could get away from work I’d be on the next plane. Its sad for the property owners but so exciting to see such an amazing natural phenomenon. The lava doesn’t flow very fast but beware of the air. The sulfur dioxide fumes can become sulfuric acid when breathed in. 

Lava Lake Glow

Posting Schedule

I’ll try to post more often but until work slows down I think I’ll be lucky to get a post out once per week. I don’t want to post “junk” just to have a post. Quality  not quantity is the goal.  I will do my best.

 

 

It’s Raining but Its not Raining Men

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Its Raining Men – NOT!

Its raining and the prediction is rain for the next 10 days! I guess that even though we left April behind we didn’t escape the April Showers! The flowers, trees, grass, weeds and all the other spring things are definitely blooming. Now if the rain would just stop for a day or two…on the weekend.

What’s been happening?

Aside from the rain I’ve been working. I clocked 67 hours this past week.

I was so looking forward to doing something fun this weekend and then sharing it here but mother nature had other plans. Saturday it poured until about 2 pm. Then the sun did come out. You know that yellow thing in the sky? But where could I go with only a couple of hours? Its  Kentucky Derby Day and I love to catch that race.

I’ve been watching it for years and hate to miss it. Someday I plan to attend in person. Now that would be something to write about!

More Than Work!

Ok I did more than work. I enrolled in a class that runs 5 Thursdays in June. Its how to set up and design a blog. Maybe I’ll finally get the instruction I need to Tweak this baby! I can’t wait to start the class. And one other thing happened. I got my renewed passport back, not that I’m planning any overseas trips.

I’m still fixated on the good old USA. I also picked up a renewal of my motion sickness patch so I’m ready to get out on the ocean. Look out whales and sharks!

Captain John Boats

Speaking of chasing whales, I usually go out of Plymouth, MA with Captain John. http://www.captjohn.com/ I follow them on Facebook too. https://www.facebook.com/CaptainJohnBoats/ His feed has been filled with great whale sightings already this spring. Even the humpbacks have started to come back. Right whales, white-sided dolphins…I can’t wait to get back out there!

Rain, rain go away

All right mother nature. I’m all for rain. Its good for growing things but can you make it rain when I’m at work or asleep at night and give me some sunshine on the weekends? Please?

 

 

Good Morning World! I’m Baaaack!

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Good Morning World!

What a beautiful morning. The sun is shining, temps are moderate, the air is fresh. It’s just a perfect spring morning and it’s Sunday. No work! (maybe) I’ve got some updates and housekeeping items to share today. There is more change on the breeze than the scent of flowers and grass.

What Is Going on with aroundustyroads?

Aroundustyroads.com is my baby blog. I wrote my first post on September 8, 2010. I was based on Blogspot at that time. A couple of years later I migrated to WordPress. That was a pretty smooth transition but I was still new and didn’t have a lot of content. What I had can be found by clicking on the archive link in the side panel.

7 Years Later

Its been 7 years and I hope my blogging skills have grown with experience. What hasn’t changed is the look and feel of aroundustyroads.com. Lately I’ve been hearing more and more about successful bloggers, even meeting one, and I realized that I, we, needed to make some changes if I want to move to the next level. These successful bloggers have been at it 2-5 years. I’ve been doing this for 7 years and being left in the dust! What’s up with that!?

 

The  Changes in the Works

The first thing I did was move again. Like moving from Blogspot to WordPress, I moved to Bluehost to give me more adaptability. For non geeks, that’s like moving your cell service from Verizon to Sprint or from a 2 bedroom ranch to a 6 bedroom colonial. It was more painful this time so I need your help. If you are not getting email alerts, please let me know. If anything else is not working for you like it did before. Let me know that too. Enter it in the comments so we can work on getting it fixed.

New Look

While the dust settles on the move, I’m looking into upgrading our look. Take a look at one blog I found and like: http://brittanyfromboston.com/. Or this very successful blog http://joshuaberman.net/ . I just have to learn how to make these changes.

Drum roll Please….

INTRODUCING

A new companion blog. downdustylanes.com  No it is not replacing aroundustyroads. I can’t give up my baby but in trying to find out how to change our look, I got a new website built for me. It’s gorgeous. I haven’t started using it yet but will make my first post there in May. It will help me learn my way around a more advanced website.

One Last Change

Because of the current work load at my job. I am going to reduce my posting schedule for a couple of months. I am going to try to post 3 times per week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When things slow down at work  I’ll kick it back up.

Tell me what you think of all this. as the saying goes, inquiring minds what to know.